Almera is the start of our very special route in southern Spain. When we got there we were really put off by the amount of traffic, It was simply bezerk. Turns out it was the start of siesta and all the work haters were in a flurry to get home. But when that settled down we got to walking about the city.

The main drawcard for the city is its massive Islamic fortress (Alcazaba) up on the hill. The biggest of its kind in all of Spain. It took us ages to find, first getting lost in the seedy slum-town section and then accidentally visiting the wrong castle. We found out there were actually 2 fortresses in town on two separate hills. At first we went to the other one which was on the skirt of the dodgey sector. Broken bottles literally everywhere around that castle. It was like people only went there to throw bottles at the walls. Not great.

The funniest thing about the Alcazaba forts is that the Spanish Christians built an enormous statue of Jesus to put in between them, perhaps to try and detract from the Islamicness of it all.

When we finally arrived at Alcazaba #2 we were relieved to see a change in tone. That 'about to be stabbed' feeling dissipated and suddenly we noticed even some other tourists. The Castle was free! No need to pay, which was amazing really because it came to be one of the most outstanding castles we had ever visited! Wonderful gardens and fountains decorated the Islamic section, while the back Christian castle was full of little exhibits and a small army of unsociable cats. We had an awesome time. Hardly anyone there too!